International EDINBURGH PREVIEWS

Tuesday 18 July

A chance to catch two full shows for less
than the price of one before they go up to the Edinburgh Festival. We aim to recreate the true Edinburgh
experience – no audience, no pay for the acts, great fun! We have an enviable record in predicting the
big-hit shows before they win awards

SIMON EVANS

GENIUS

What
is Genius? Beethoven? Einstein? Stewart Lee? The Spork?

Is
it a high IQ? A ruthless disregard for convention? Any ploy used successfully
to carry a third pint glass without spilling it?

Is
it the combination of unexpected influences to conceal the processes of
creativity? The Beatles wrote great songs, but arguably revealed their genius
only when they drew not just on Little Richard but Spike Milligan, the Cabaret
Voltaire and Bernard Cribbins. Maradonna revealed his true genius when he emulated
not Pele but Michael Jordan.

And
more urgently, given such contingency, why does Society repeatedly fail to
recognise Simon Evans for The Man of Genius as whom he clearly dresses?

Few
of these questions will be adequately answered but all will at the least be
squinted at, quizzically, in this, Evans’ eighth solo Edinburgh show.
With reflections on the nature of intelligence, the possibility of original
thought, the struggle to find the authentic self, dog fucking and Octopuses,
Evans will expose the brain to itself as only a grubby mirror in a seedy bedsit
of the imagination can.

Do
not vote in any further election or referendum until you have seen this show!

Evans
is a familiar face to fans of TV stand up with highly acclaimed appearances on
Live at the Apollo, Michael McIntyre’s Roadshow, the Edinburgh Gala shows and
various other such shows. Demonstrating his genius in more conventional form he
appeared on University Challenge : The Professionals in 2007, in a team narrowly
beaten by eventual series winners the Ministry of Justice. He was also a contestant on Celebrity Mastermind, where his
specialist subject was Ernest Shackleton. Needless to say, he won his heat and
was only prevented from winning the final due to there not being one.

Simon
is also a regular on Radio 4, with three series of his own show Goes To Market already broadcast and two
more in the pipeline. He makes regular appearances on The News Quiz and he anchored
and wrote seven series of the news satire The
Way It Is. He has been published in various magazines and newspapers, most
recently The Daily Telegraph, giving his views on Brexit as a subject for
comedy. He also writes for various other TV shows and comedians but tact and
diplomacy require that he draw a veil over the specifics.